Multicolor-printing press.



No. 684,450. I Patented Oct. I5, I90]. F. H. MOWBBAY.

MULTICOLUR PRINTING PRESS.

(Apph tonflled m 14 1901 (No Model.) ZSheets-Sheet l.

with axes No. 684,450. Patented Oct. l5, I90l. F. H. MOWBRAY.

IULTIGOLOB PRINTING PRESS.

(Application filed m 14. 1901.

2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

(No Iodel.)

m: "cams Pmas co. mom-limo, wmmcrou, n. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFIC FRANK HERBERT MOVVBRAY, OF BALHAM, ENGLAND.

MULTICOLOR-PRINTING PRESS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 684,450, dated October 15, 19C 1. Application filed May 14, 1901. Serial No. 60,134. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, FRANK HERBERT Mow- BRAY, a subject of theKingof Great Britain,

residing at Balham, in the county of Surrey,

England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Multicolor-Printing Presses, of which the following isa specification.

This invention relates to multicolor-printing machines wherein hard design or color plates each bearing a design or part design in relief or in intaglio and each inked with ink of a different color are used to ink a form or printing plate by means of intermediate circular or segmental elastic transfer-surfaces, the several colored designs or part designs being either directly and individually transferred from the said elastic surfaces or in certain cases, as hereinafter described, collected together upon the same surface and then collectively transferred in correct register to the printing-plate; and it has for its object to provide means whereby better inking effects can be obtained thanis the casewithsuch machines as hitherto arranged. For this purposeadditional transfer-surfaces are provided,so that the printing-plate may be twice inked for each color so desired, such transfer-surfaces being either situated each upon a separate roller or grouped upon one or more cylinders or carriers. This double inking of the printing-plate for each color separately is neither to be confused with the double inking of a color-block and a particular transfer-surface attained by allowing the color-blocks to come twice into contact with their same respective inking-rollers and transfer-surface, nor is it to be confused with the double inking of the printing-plate in all the colors collectively.

By this invention the printingplate is inked twice for each color so desired, being inked once by each of two separate transfersurfaces, any inequalities in the thickness of layer of color deposited or distribution effected by the first transfersurface being filled in by the second without affecting the register. The advantage of such an arrangement is shown more especially when using composition transfer surfaces. Should one of these surfaces contain a flaw, it will, although twice inked, be noticeable as a white speck on the print. It is evident that such surface imperfections,always present in more or less noticeable formon the transfer-sur faces, can be neutralized by the use of two transfer-surfaces for-each color. Moreover, rich tones and uniformly heavy flat effects are far easier to produce with the use of the said double inking, as will be readily underv It may be shown, there-.

fore, that in order to fulfil these conditions in superposing inks and at the same time to obtain a double inking of the .form or printing plate for each color separately the machine must be arranged in such a manner that any' two transfer-surfaces arranged for one particular color must firstgive ofi their ink to the form-plate before a second pair of transfersurfaces representing another color begins. In a single printing-plate transfer-machine where the printing and the color plates are seated upon a common carrier this may conveniently be performed by grouping around the said carrier the required number of trans fer-rollers having a diameter an aliquot part of that of the plate-cylinder. need not-necessarily be double that of the color-plates on the carrier, since in cases where the part designs on the color-plates do not correspond as to relative position and in further cases where the color and character of the design are not such as to make color= mingling probable two-or more colors may be collected upon a single transfer-roller. In single printing-plate transfer-machines, however, where the' form-plate is seated upon a carrier separate from the color-plates more care will be required in the grouping to obtain at the same time two independent inkings of the form-plate for each color sepa- This number rately and the required order of colors. This is especially so in the case of such machines, hereinafter called differential transfer-machines, as have the transfer-beds seated upon a common carrier and in which the printingplate in order to come successively into contact with the ditferent transfer-beds is of different diameter to the color-plate carrier and transfer-bed carrier. Although such machines on account of the different curvature of form and color plates and liability to defective register through any shake or inequalities in the driving-gear may beconsidered less suitable for fine work than a machine wherein all the color-plates and printing-plates are of the same external diameter and seated rigidly'upon a common carrier, they maybe found suitable for a certain class I of flat work if working undersatisfactory inking conditions. To legislate for this, an-ad-- ditional transfer-surface carrier may be provided, gearing with either the colo'r-blockcarrier or the form-plate carrier, but preferably not with the two. A convenient manner of arranging this to avoid clashing of gear will be to have the additional t ransfer-surt'ace carrier driven by a separate spur-wheel upon the driving-cylinder shaft either at the same end or the end remote from the driving spurwheel, the pitch and diameter of this wheel corresponding exactly with that of the driving-wheel. Although difierential transfermachines have hitherto been devised merely for an odd number of colors, they may also be arranged for an even number of colors, as shown in Figure 2, still giving satisfactory inking results.

In the accompanying drawings, Figs. 1 and 3 illustrate the present invention as applied toa machine of the class illustrated and described in Letters Patent No. 632,322, granted September 5, 1899, to Ivan Orlotf.

Referring to said figures, E indicates a cylinder or common carrier upon which is mounted a plurality of partial design-plates A, B, O,

and D and also an assembling plate or form 9. I

The design-plates are inked, respectively, by

7 pairs of inking-rolls a b 0 (Z, said rolls being supplied with ink from fountains e in the usual manner. Around the carrier-cylinder E are a series of transfer-rolls t to 25 inclu-- sive; These rolls effect the transfer of colors from the design-plates to the form g,.as in the Orlolf patent; but in said'patent each color is transferred by a single roll, while in the present invention each color is transferred independently by two rolls. The effect of this'improvement is twofold. It produces a double inking of the form in each col0r,thns strengthening the colors, and it-prevents defectswhich might be produced in the print by reason of breaks or defects in the transfer-rolls-that is, if a gap in one roll produces a defective inking of a form its companion roll will cure the defect. The cams for operating the inking' and transfer rolls may be the same as those illustrated in the Orlolf patent above; mentioned. Thus, as shown in Fig. 3, the ink ing-rolls have ball-bearings lat one end and cam-rolls 2 at their opposite ends. The springs 3 tend to draw the inking-rolls into contact 7 with the design-plates, and cam-ribs 4 hold them out of contact, excepting at the'prop'er times. bearings 5 at one end and cam-rolls' fij at the Similarly the transfer-rolls have ball-.1

opposite ends cooperating with'cam-ribs 7.

Springs 8 hold the-rollsin contact with} the ribs. In Fig.

of the invention, in which E"indicates a cyl- 2 is illustrated another embo aimfit inder having four partial design-plates A B O D, corresponding to the parts A B O D of- Fig. 1.

Devices for. the double inking jjofj these plates are providedand shown-exactly; the sameras the devices illustrated in Fig.1.

In Fig. 2- the assembling plate or for'm' g "is 7 carried on a separate cylinder G. There are two transfer-rolls T, each having four trans fer-surfaces T T T T, which take the colors from the design-plates A B G D, respec-' tively. The transfer-rolls shown. in Figs. 1 and 3 are ingear with the design cylinder or carrier E in such a manner that the surfaces J} of the rolls'and of thedesign-platestravelat the same speed. ReferringitoFig. 2, it will be seen that the transfer-rolls always contact with the design-plates, no cams forseparating them beingnecessary.

In Fig. 4 is shown the gearing for the f'orni' of machine shown in Fig. 2. The transferrolls are always in gear and in contact-with the design-roll and the form-roll. V

the same peripheral speed.

the form y will come into contact with the four transfer-surfaces oneach roll and re I ceive two inkings of each color. V

Adjacent to the form-cylinder is the impression-cylinder F, carrying the platen'hfl This impression-cylinder is in gear with the" form-cylinder G; but the platen is arranged to contact with the form only at each fourthalso always in gear with revolution'-that is, when the formhas colp lectedall of the four colors or. as ma ny colors 1 as arepro'vided in themaehine.

The mechanism for moving the platen-cy1- inder into and out of contact with the form cylinder'is not shown, as such mechanisms are common in the art and-illustrated,;for in stance,in LettersPatent No. 339,014.- to Richarz and Scott and No. 550,735 to W'endte, both for multicolor-printing machines.

's It will be evident that the essential features r and arrangement of. mechanisms illustrated and described.

V Having now particularly described'and asi l certained the nature of the said invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is 1. In a multicolor-printing press, the combination 0f a plurality of design-plates, a printing-form, and a series of pluralities of transfer -surfaces cooperating respectively with the design-plates to transfer the designs to the form, said transfer surfaces being geared in registering relation with their respective design-plates and with the form.

2. In a multicolor-printing press, the combination of a plurality of design plates, a printing-form, a series of pluralities of inking'rolls cooperating with the design-plates respectively to ink the same, and a series of pluralities of transfer-surfaces cooperating with the design-plates to transfer the designs from said plates to the form, said transfersurfaces being geared in registering relation with their respective design-plates and with the form.

3. In a multicolor-printing press, the combination of the plurality of design-plates, a common carrier upon which said plates are mounted a printing-form, and a series of pluralities of transfer-surfaces cooperating with said design-plates respectively to transfer the designs from said plates to the form, said transfer-surfaces being geared in registering relation withtheir respective design-plates and with the form.

4. In a multicolor-printing press, the combination ofapluralityof design-plates upon a common carrier, a printing-form upon a separate carrier, and a pair of transfer-rolls, each roll having a transfer-surface cooperating with each design-plate and adapted to transfer the design from the plate to the form, whereby two transfers ofeach color to the form are efiected during each cycle of operations of the machine.

5. In a multicolor-printing press, the com- 

